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Drones on Drones on Drones

“Where we’re going we don’t need roads,” Dr. Emmett Brown said to Marty as the DeLorean rose from the ground and soared into 2014.

Well it’s 2014, and we’re still without flying cars. It’s true we can’t soar through town in our hovermobiles, but the future is more likely to see technological progress by way of automation.

This has been seen in the increased presence of drones. There are many uses for drones, aside from the scary ones like surveilling and firing missiles. Some of these include the following: delivering beer, providing internet, and crossing oceans.

Well, ixnay on the first and arguably best purpose. Unfortunately the FAA has grounded a remote beer bearing hexacopter owned by the Lakemaid brewery in Minnesota that specialized in delivering beer to ice fisherman in the area.

The FAA’s decision caused such an uproar that it inspired a White House Petition requesting it be recommissioned. No decision yet from the White House, however.

Lakemaid isn’t the only private company looking to gain from drones. Facebook looks like it may buy Titan Aerospace (a high altitude solar drone manufacturer) for $60 million. These drones would most likely be used to provide wireless internet to developing and remote locations.

Facebook, utilizing its recent acquisition, WhatsApp, may soon provide a cheap means of communication for people around the world.

But what about cheaper transportation around the world too? Rolls-Royce may soon be testing the use of drone freight ships. Such ships would allow more space for cargo, especially now that space would not be needed for living quarters, food, and sewage.

Of course it will be a long time before any drone ship is deemed safe enough to shove off on its first voyage, likewise the Google driverless cars.

It’s a bit sad we don’t have direct access to such cool technology, but it’s encouraging that people are coming up with these new ideas and are working toward giving it to us in the future.